A Continuing Affair
by Caz251
Summary: Rita Skeeter stumbles upon a few meetings and draws her own conclusions.


AN: Written for the Test Your Limits Challenge round 3 prompt -

Styx

Styx is often mistakenly identified as the river of Death, but it is actually the river of Pain.

**For this round, you'll be writing about a love triangle. And when I say triangle, it doesn't mean you need to limit yourself to three sides!**

Also written for the Wand Wood Challenge Prompt - Willow **Alt: write about an instance where a character is jealous or insecure.**

_A Continuing Affair_

_By Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent for the Daily Prophet_

_Many of you may remember an article that I wrote four years ago about muggleborns war hero Hermione Granger during the Triwizard Tournament. The young temptress at the time toying with the affections of our saviour, Harry Potter, and those of International Quiddich Star, Victor Krum._

_It appeared that this wasn't the case, or rather we were led to believe that this is the case. Potter and Granger have protested many a time that they are 'just good friends', with Potter going as far as to say that 'Hermione is the big sister I always wanted.'_

_A romantic relationship between the two seemed unlikely, especially when Ms Granger started dating the third member of the Golden Trio, the youngest male of the Weasley family, Ronald. Ms Granger does not appear to be the faithful girlfriend though, using her muggle background to help her hide her deception. This reporter was witness to the woman's clandestine meetings with two different men, Viktor Krum and Harry Potter._

_Meting a friend for lunch is nothing to be ashamed of, but Ms Granger appears to be hiding her lunch dates with Quiddich Star Krum. They met in a small but intimate Italian restaurant in muggle lunch where they proceeded to have lunch as they whispered to each other, holding hands the whole time. I was unable to hear their entire conversation, but I did hear the words love mentioned, and Ms Granger promising to meet him later before kissing him on the cheek and rushing off at the end of her meal._

_Later that day this reporter was shocked therefore when she found her not with Mr Krum, but wandering muggle London hand in hand with Harry Potter. They were laughing and joking about when Ms Granger suddenly stopped when she spotted a hotel, Potter said something that made her giggle and she started dragging him towards the hotel where they checked in under her name. _

_I was unable to gather any more information on the situation at that time, but I am sure that it will come to light. This reporter can't but wonder who it is the woman is really with, is she really stringing three men along at the same time, and do they know about each other. Does Mr Weasley know that his girlfriend is carrying on with his best friend? I don't think so, we all know what the Weasley temper is like, we would have known if he did. This reporter just wishes that Ms Granger would stop stringing so many men along and would just pick one and leave the others alone._

Hermione snorted as she read the paper, knowing that she would have a lot of damage control to do, but amused at what Rita Skeeter thought was going on. She knew that both Harry and Viktor would find it humorous as well, Ron on the other hand would be apoplectic when he read the paper. It would take all that she had to stop him from going off one on and allow her to explain, but she had her wand ready, silencing and binding charms running through her head.

When Ron entered the kitchen she had a plate of food ready for him, knowing that it would be better if he had eaten something before he read the paper and the howlers started to arrive. This time if there were any dangerous charms or hexes sent to her in the mail she intended to return them tenfold, she wasn't a little girl anymore. She handed Ron the paper, telling him to read Skeeter's latest then to hear her out, she would explain everything.

She watched as Ron read the article, getting redder with anger as he got further down the page, by time he had got to the end she was surprised that he hadn't started to steam at the ears. She quickly bound him to the chair and silenced him, not allowing him to start into an angry tirade. She knew that he was insecure in their relationship no matter how much she tried to change that, but his insecurity and his jealousy were part of him. She just had to explain the situation and everything would be alright.

"I am not dating either Harry or Viktor, I have been sneaking around, but I am not sleeping with either of them, I've been helping them with a personal problem." Hermione stated, looking at Ron and seeing the uncertain and slightly disbelieving look on his face. She sighed, there was nothing else for it she would have to show him her memories. She was glad that she had looked up a spell just for this purpose. She thought about her lunch with Viktor and cast the spell, allowing the memory to be projected into the room in front of her.

_"I need your help, he won't speak to me, he returns all of my owls unopened." Viktor spoke quietly, "He won't give me a chance to explain what happened, you have to help me Hermione."_

_Hermione just nodded, taking his hand in hers, "It'll work itself out Viktor, I have tried to tell him what happened for you but he doesn't seem to listen. I think he forgets how the press can be, and how outrageous the stories become."_

_"I need to see him, to tell him I love him, but I can't get him to meet with me. I don't know if he even cares for me anymore." Viktor commiserated._

_"He loves you. If he didn't he wouldn't have been so upset, he wouldn't have shut himself off as he did if he didn't care."_

_They spent the rest of the meal coming up with ideas before finally deciding on one. Hermione stood knowing that she had to get back to work. "I'll meet you later." She smiled at him before placing a soft kiss on his cheek, whispering to him as she did. "It'll all work out." _

Ron looked at her in confusion, wondering what the memory was all about, she could tell that he believed that she wasn't carrying on with Viktor, the man had clearly stated while they were at lunch that he loved a man. She could tell that Ron was curious about who it was and what she was going to do to help Viktor. The raised eyebrow told her he believed her about Viktor, but wanted to know what exactly she was doing at a hotel with Harry. She cast the spell again, watching as the memory began to play.

_Hermione stood in Harry's living room trying to convince him to talk to her about Viktor, but she knew that she was getting nowhere. Finally she threw her hands into the air and gave a defeated sigh, "Fine, we won't talk about it, but will you at least talk to me about something." When Harry looked up she saw that he was willing to compromise a bit, "Come on, let's go for a walk." Hermione suggested, as she transfigured a jacket for him to wear._

_Once he was ready to go she apparated them both to a hidden spot in muggle London and began to walk. "How's work?" She asked, trying to start some sort of conversation with her best friend to get him interacting a bit. It worked, and soon they were sharing funning stories of their workplaces, and their life in general._

_Hermione stopped when she saw the hotel that she had arranged to meet Viktor at, looking at it with a determined look on her face before turning to Harry who looked resigned. _

_"Only if you let me order this time." Harry spoke defeated._

_Hermione giggled, she had a habit of dragging Harry to different muggle restaurants and making him eat the poshest of food, often things that he had no idea what they were. She then began dragging him towards the hotel and to the reception desk much to his confusion. She gave the man her name, knowing that Viktor always used her name to book hotels in the muggle world as it was a common name there and any reporters who broadened their search for him wouldn't think it was him._

_They were escorted up to the room as she and Viktor had planned, as it meant that Harry would be unable to escape in view of a muggle. The man in question was looking at her with a look of confusion on his face, but as yet he hadn't detected what she was up to. When they got to the door the muggle left and Hermione pushed Harry into the room before pulling the door shut behind him. She then warded the door with a specific ward that wouldn't allow the people inside to leave until they sorted their issues. She knew that Viktor would have put up anti-apparition wards in the room so now it was all down to him._

As the memory ended Hermione unbound and unsilenced Ron, waiting to hear whatever it was that he was going to say. He looked shocked though and was staring at her rather blankly. "Harry and Krum?" He finally spluttered, looking at her for confirmation.

Hermione just nodded, and answered the question that she knew would be next to fall from his lips. "Since the Tournament, I was the only one who knew, they wanted to keep it quiet."

"What happened between them?" Ron asked, curious as to why Harry wasn't speaking to the Bulgarian.

"Some reporter wrote a piece about Viktor and some girl in a hotel room. She was with one of his teammates and he showed her out when the guy fell asleep." Hermione replied, "Harry saw the article before Viktor did and wouldn't let him explain, they should have sorted it by now though."

Ron just nodded, she could tell that he understood Harry's side of things, after all he had just been put through the same thing in a way. Hermione just hoped that Harry and Viktor sorted things out quickly and would both be ready and willing to help her crush Rita Skeeter for her snooping.


End file.
